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Reviews
Point of No Return (1993)
I can't believe you guys
has ANYONE who's reviewing this movie seen the luc besson original? i'm not one to be a franco-film snob about remakes, if a movie being redone in English is going to gain it a greater audience, then so be it, but for the love of god... American Movie Classics has picked it up which means it'll be on at least seven times a day for the next month, and what a waste of broadcast time. bridget fonda captures absolutely none of the original fun of anne parillaud's nikita. she's just obnoxious where the french version's protagonist was wild, original, and obnoxious. this movie is AWFUL. second only to the remake of "the vanishing" as the worst americanizations of foreign hits i've ever seen.
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
Burton sparkles, simply sparkles
anyone who doesn't recognize the sheer MAGNETISM of richard burton doesn't have a clue what they're talking about as far as celluloid goes. i first noticed the professional "mr. elizabeth taylor" in "look back in anger", possibly one of the most electric performances ever committed to film-- it isn't that he's attractive, which he is, and it isn't that he's the best of all possible actors, which he almost could be, it's just that when he's on stage, he has the rare, raw quality of reducing to obscurity anything around him. Sidney poitier is the only other actor off hand i can think of with this quality.
"Iguana" is one of the best adaptations of the much-maligned Williams, seconded only to "Streetcar Named Desire", with a "is that her?" appearance from Grayson Hall (of Dark Shadow's Dr. Julia Hoffman fame), a slightly older than I'm used to Ava Gardner, and another deliciously nymphetic performance from Sue Lyon ("Lolita"). Deborah Kerr's pretty much Deborah Kerr, she's seemed to have phoned in every movie made after "From Here To Eternity". Movie's fabulous, all the tension between the characters crackle. not seeing it is skipping a fabulous two hours of just the "right" dialogue.
Dancing Mothers (1926)
ARE YOU KIDDING?!
Other than the sheer radiance of clara bow (who else can you think of with eyes THAT MUCH like exclamation points), i thought this movie was ABYSMALLY boring...the copy i saw on VHS had very few title cards and thus for a lot of it you're just looking at the mother, who wasn't a)that particularly talented or b) that particularly pretty. more bow would have made for a better viewing experience, and more cards would have made it halfway intelligible other than realizing there's this completely convoluted and silly romantic quadrangle. tho, the line "i'll queer this romance for you! you wait!" was pretty sweet. i'll take "it" over this any day.
Dim Dam Dom: Noël à Vaugirard (1966)
oh serge
serge gainsbourg is definitely the best part of this, what i assume to be a tv christmas special. i acquired it trickily enough through some french download site- you have megastars of french pop starring in a contemporary set nativity scene, with serge as jospeh in his perennial tight jeans, blue jean jacket, and, just for christmas spirit, a waist length charles de gaulle style cape. i think the intro is by france gall, but in any case, it's some patti boyd looking mod-ette speaking lispy french. if you can find it on a compilation tape, sure, watch it- best scene must be the "nuns" at the "hospital" "joseph" takes mary to, nuns who turn out to be choreographed dancers in a sequence set to "qui est in, qui est out". classic 60's french mod.